ADDYSTON - A 12-year-old boy was shot with a Taser gun after threatening to stab and shoot his family and police Friday.

The boy was stabbing furniture with butcher knives in his family's apartment and trying to get at the family's gun safe when a police officer from nearby Cleves went to the apartment and told him to drop the weapons, police said.

The boy refused and came within five feet of the officer before the officer shot him with the Taser, which is a gun that fires barbs that deliver an electric shock meant to temporarily disable a suspect so officers can make an arrest.

His mother told police the boy is a psychiatric patient. He was taken to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center for evaluation.

No charges were filed.

Col. Mark Demeropolis, chief of the Cleves Police Department, said the officer at the scene could have used deadly force if there had not been a Taser available.